The parking holidays in Edinburgh over Christmas and New Year are:
Tuesday 25 December 2018
Wednesday 26 December 2018
Tuesday 1 January 2019
Members of the public can park free of charge in public parking bays and on single yellow lines on these dates.
The parking holidays are detailed on the city council’s web page at
http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/info/20276/parking_spaces/566/parking_holidays
Sunday parking: ‘Status quo not sustainable’ – Cllr Lesley Hinds
City councillors will decide how Sunday parking controls will be introduced at a meeting of the Transport and Environment committee next week. Continue reading Sunday parking fees set to be introduced
City Council’s parking consultation closes on 31 October Continue reading Still time to have your say on parking proposals
Draft Action Plan is now out for consultation
Edinburgh residents’ views are now being sought on a raft of measures aimed to help improve parking in the city.
A public consultation is under way on the draft Parking Action Plan, which is intended to develop a cohesive vision of parking in Edinburgh, encouraging active travel and supporting the city’s economy while safeguarding residents’ spaces.
Proposals for the plan, approved by the Transport and Environment Committee in August, are based on consultation with the public and take into account the priorities of those living in the city.
Transport Convener, Councillor Lesley Hinds, said: “We’ve been evaluating parking in Edinburgh over the last few months, studying the use of city centre parking by residents, shoppers and visitors to see where the most demand for spaces is. We’ve really listened to the public to create the new Parking Action Plan, and have responded to their concerns.
“This is about relieving demand for residents’ parking as well as promoting sustainable travel into the city centre. Our proposals would reduce the negative impact of uncontrolled parking, encouraging parking turnover near local businesses and helping to encourage active travel and use of public transport.
The draft Parking Action Plan (above), which affects the Controlled Parking Zone, was drawn up following a series of information gathering exercises, including interviews with drivers and pedestrians, vehicle counts on key streets and internal workshops.
Amongst the findings it was shown that, when parking is uncontrolled on a Sunday, people stay for a long time, reducing the turnover of business for shops, making it harder for residents to find spaces and impacting on traffic. It also indicates that parking pressures in the evenings are similar, if not greater than during the controlled hours.
In addition, of 535 drivers interviewed on a Sunday, 43% said they would travel by public transport, walk or cycle if they were making the same journey during the week, while 42% indicated that free parking was not important to their decision to visit the city centre that day.
‘Without intervention traffic and parking in Trinity will rise’
See below for the latest news from Trinity Community Council, whose latest meeting focused on parking, an issue of concern raised by several residents …
Do you have an opinion on traffic and/or parking issues in Trinity? Please share your thoughts with Trinity Community Council, who would be interested to hear your views.
To get in touch, email tcc-comms@outlook.com
The proposed priority parking scheme in Telford and an update on Drylaw skate park feature on next week’s Drylaw Telford Community Council meeting agenda.
The meeting will be held in Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre on Wednesday 25 February at 7pm. All welcome.
Measures to introduce priority parking measures to the streets of Telford could be agreed by councillors at next Tuesday’s Transport & Environment committee meeting. Local campaigners are pleased that traffic and parking problems that have beset the area for years could at last be resolved.
Drylaw Telford Community Council has been seeking solutions to irresponsible parking in the area, and last year initiatived a survey of the area to gauge residents views on introducing priority parking measures. That October consultation was inconclusive, but the community council gave it another go and organised a public meeting in March.
The meeting was well-attended and there was sufficient support on the night to justify a second consultation in June.
This proved more decisive: 156 residents responded – and of these 154 were in favour of introducing a Priority Parking scheme!
Drylaw Telford Community Council chairman Alex Dale chairs the sub-group set up to address Telford’s traffic problems. He said: “We are very pleased with the outcome of recent consultation letter which resulted in a overwhelming favour for the scheme and I’d like to thank our members for all their hard work in advising the residents of the merits for introducing the scheme.”
He went on: “The sub group met last night to discuss this report and next stages. If the scheme gets the go-ahead next week Parking Operations will produce a detailed map of the area, showing where priority parking bays will be located and non legislated free bay and highlighting the single/double yellow lines propoals. The transport officials will be invited to this meeting to fully explain the proposals and our sub-group will then agree or amend. Clearly we won’t do anything until we know the result of Tuesday’s meeting but we are very hopeful that things will get moving in Telford soon.”
New laws to clamp down on drivers who abuse disabled parking have been passed by the Scottish Parliament. The legislation aims to deal with drivers said to be misusing blue badges by giving councils powers to seize and cancel them.
Similar legislation was introduced in England last year, where the Department for Transport cracked down on a what is becoming a lucrative black market in the parking permits – with free on-street parking almost impossible to find and parking fees high, the permits are becoming increasingly valuable and a blue badge could be worth over £1,000 on the black market.
According to the latest official statistics as many as a fifth of the 2.62 million badges in circulation across the UK could be being misused.
Holyrood’s Disabled Persons’ Parking Badges Bill was brought forward by SNP MSP Dennis Robertson, who said abuse of the system was a growing problem and had become “unacceptable”.
There are 245,000 legitimate blue badge holders in Scotland, and Holyrood’s local government committee said misuse of the blue badge scheme was having a major impact on the lives of people who rely on disabled parking spaces.
Research by agency Transport Scotland said 83% of legitimate badge holders had encountered misuse.
One Craigleith blue badge holder, who asked not to be named, welcomed the news. “You see it all the time. Drivers who pretend to be disabled to get free parking are a nightmare because they prevent genuine blue badge holders from using parking bays that are there especially to make things like shopping easier and more accessible.
“Some of those who abuse the system are quite brazen about it and I’ve lost count of the number of inconsiderate drivers I’ve seen who will use a disabled persons parking space in a supermarket car park just to be nearer the shop!
“It’s infuriating – there are a lot of selfish and thoughtless drivers out there and I’m sure genuine blue badge holders will be happy to hear that something is going to be done about it.”
Misuse of a blue badge is already an offence, but enforcement powers currently lie with the police. The new legislation will come into force next year.
Edinburgh North and Leith Labour MP Mark Lazarowicz is launching a new Private Members’ Bill this week to resolve the deadlock which has delayed new legislation in the Scottish Parliament to ban irresponsible parking.
Inconsiderate parking can be a major headache for people like wheelchair users, the visually impaired and parents with children in pushchairs, and the Bill would end uncertainty as to whether the Scottish Parliament has the power to legislate on this issue after a Bill to introduce a Scotland-wide ban was delayed due to conflicting legal advice.
Mark Lazarowicz said: “This Bill would ensure that the Scottish Government has the power to make a real difference to our streets by tackling irresponsible parking that can block pavements, kerbs and crossings and choke the flow of traffic.
“It can be dangerous where for instance it pushes people into the road to get past or impedes a wheelchair user from crossing a street because someone had thoughtlessly blocked a dropped kerb.
“A Bill in the Scottish Parliament has had its progress delayed because of conflicting legal advice as to whether the power to legislate to tackle irresponsible parking is still reserved or not.”
“I want to cut through that with this Bill which would specifically devolve this power once and for all to make a practical difference to the streets in our towns and cities in Scotland.”
Sandra White MSP has proposed a Bill to introduce a Scotland-wide ban on irresponsible parking. The Bill has support from a wide range of organisations such as Guide Dogs Scotland and Capability Scotland and has cross-party support in the Scottish Parliament.
Mark was one of 20 MPs who won the right to introduce a Private Members’ Bill in the draw for Bills which recently took place. He will introduce the Responsible Parking (Scotland) Bill tomorrow ( Wednesday).
The Bill has already won the support of MPs from other parties and Mark’s move has also been welcomed by Sandra White MSP.
The North and Leith MP must now wait to see if his Bill will go through. He said: “Although the fact that there are controversial Private Members’ Bills ahead of mine in the queue this year will make it a challenge to get mine through, my Bill has all party support which I believe gives it a reasonable chance of making progress.”
DTCC Telford Priority Parking Flier. (1)
A reminder that Drylaw Telford Community Council is holding a meeting to discuss a proposal for a Priority Parking Scheme for Telford tonight (Monday 31 March) at 7.15pm in the Telford Arms.
Councillors and transport officials will be in attendance – all local residents welcome.
